Specify who can view drafts

You can control which groups of people can read drafts of list items and files. Drafts are either the minor versions of files or the list items or files that are not yet approved. A draft can be a new item or an item that has changed.

A draft is created in two situations:

When a minor version of a file is created or updated in a library that tracks major and minor versions

When a list item or file is created or updated but not yet approved in a list or library in which content approval is required

You can specify which groups of people can view drafts of files. This setting can be different from the setting for the group of people who can view the rest of the items in your list or library, such as the major versions of files or the files or list items that are approved.

When you track major and minor versions, you can specify whether people must have permission to edit files before they can view and read a minor version. When this setting is applied, people who have permission to edit the file can work on the file, but those who have permission only to read the file cannot see the minor version. For example, you may not want everyone who has access to your library to see comments or revisions while a file is being edited. If major and minor versions are being tracked and no one has published a major version yet, the file is not visible for people who do not have permission to see draft items.

When content approval is required, you can specify whether files that are pending approval can be viewed by people with permission to read, people with permission to edit, or only the author and people with permission to approve items. If both major and minor versions are being tracked, the author must publish a major version before the file can be submitted for approval. When content approval is required, people who have permission to read content but do not have permission to see draft items will see the last approved or major version of the file.

For example, you may want to restrict users who are not part of the approval process from seeing documents that contain speculative information prior to a major announcement, or your organization may require that certain files are confidential. In such cases, you should accept the default restrictions. On the other hand, you may want to use content approval to specify the status of a list item or file but not necessarily control access to it while it is being revised. For example, you might want people who read a file to know that it is a draft that could change, because it is not yet approved, but you don't want to prevent people who visit your site from reading the file. In this case, you can enable anyone who has permission to read items in the list or library to view drafts.

To specify who can view drafts, you must have permission to design a list or library.

The following procedure applies only to libraries that track both major and minor versions and lists or libraries that require content approval.

If the list or library is not already open, click its name on the Quick Launch.

If the name of your list or library does not appear, click View All Site Content, and then click the name of your list or library.

On the Settings menu
, click List Settings, or click the settings for the type of library that you are opening.

For example, in a document library, click Document Library Settings.

Under General Settings, click Versioning settings.

In the Draft Item Security section, under Who should see draft items in this list or under Who should see draft items in this document library, click the group of users whom you want to enable to view drafts.

The option for users who can approve items is available only if your library requires content approval.

Click OK.

Note: When content approval is required, people who have permission to read content but do not have permission to see draft items will see the last approved version or last major version of the file. If major and minor versions are being tracked, and no one has published a major version yet, the file will not be visible for people who do not have permission to see draft items.